Jon Huntsman Now A Climate Realist?

Remember, this was the guy who tweeted ““To be clear. I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy.” And, regarding anthropogenic global warming, we did call him crazy. And his campaign went no where. Not that it was going anywhere to start with. Now, via the Politico, we learn that he is supposedly tacking to skepticism on climate

Jon Huntsman, who slammed Rick Perry over the summer for not trusting scientists on climate change, has now developed his own doubts.

“The scientific community owes us more in terms of a better description of explanation about what might lie beneath all of this. But there’s not information right now to formulate policies in terms of addressing it over all, primarily because it’s a global issue,” the former Utah governor said Tuesday at an appearance at the conservative Heritage Foundation.

Doesn’t seem much like any sort of skepticism in my mind. Perhaps he should read the guys, like Tom Nelson, Anthony Watts, and Junk Science, among others, who have the ClimateGate 2 emails. Sounds more like he is saying he wants more information in order to create global junk science legislation and treaties.

“I’m not changing that at all. I still say that,” Huntsman said. “I say because of that – I’m not a physicist, I’m not a scientist. I tend to defer to those who do it for a living. I’d be prepared to take it out of the political milieu and put it into the scientific milieu.”

However, Huntsman explained, “there are questions about the validity of the science – evidence by one university over in Scotland recently,” apparently alluding to the “Climategate 2.0” emails from England’s East Anglia University released last month.

Maybe he has read them, and is trying to soft shoe around his previous policy beliefs. Maybe he is slowing catching a clue as to the reality of “climate science”. That’s what happened to me. Someone should explain to him the absurdity of people taking unnecessary fossil fueled flights on the public dime for climate vacations conferences in excellent vacation spots to complain about Other People taking unnecessary fossil fueled flights, and creating legislation that puts extra costs on those Other People who take the flights.

Huntsman said he still supports the idea of a scientific consensus but is not yet endorsing the conclusion that climate change is happening and caused by human activity.

“I think the onus is on the scientific community to provide more in the way of information, to help clarify the situation. That’s all,” he added. “But do I defer to science and those who happen to do this for a living? Yeah, I do, as I do on issues like cancer, for example.”

Personally, I could care less if someone is a Warmist. We all have our own belief sets, even if some are wrong and/or unprovable. Hey, I believe in aliens popping over to the Earth. Can’t prove it. Nor do I get caught up in it. Nor do I think we should pass legislation which forces others to act in a certain manner and pay taxes. With Huntsman, the fact that he seems to be implying that he would be open to “climate change” legislation causes deep concern. With Mitt Romney, he’s a Believer, but, he won’t pass legislation. Newt, I’m not so sure. Huntsman seems to be the kind of guy who would have signed Kyoto (which even Clinton wouldn’t), and would sign whatever comes out of COP17 in Durban.

I’ve sent an email to the Huntsman campaign asking about this very issue. So far, no reply.